


Don't think about it

by Felicity_The_Cat



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Abandoning dimensions, Bittersweet, Character Death, How Do I Tag, Mercy - Freeform, Other, Platonic Love, Sad, baby morty, happyish ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-22
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-18 20:36:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11882334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felicity_The_Cat/pseuds/Felicity_The_Cat
Summary: All of Rick's life he's had issues.Just don't think about them.They'll go away.That's what he told Morty, and that's what he told himself.





	1. Chapter 1

Rick wasn't the kind of man to go out of his way for other people, so that's why when he found himself trying to find a rare flower to cure a disease Morty had caught he was desperate.  
The man didn't care about many things in life.  
Everyone was expendable and replaceable in the multiverse.  
If his family died or decided that they'd had enough of him he could always just move on to another one.  
But one thing he never could or would replace was his Morty.

When Morty was just a baby Jerry had divorced Beth and taken custody of the kids.  
The courts apparently found her unfit to take care of them, as she was falsely accused of beating them when she got drunk.

Summer was almost four, and though it broke Rick's heart he knew he couldn't take them both.  
He hoped that Summer was old enough to remember her mother as a kind and loving woman, and not the demon Jerry painted her out to be.

Rick told Beth goodbye, and they both cried, holding each other tightly.  
He explained that he was taking Morty, and he wished he could take Summer, but it would be hard enough taking care of one child.

So, after his last bittersweet goodbyes he left.  
Morty was in the back of the ship in a baby seat, blankets wrapped all around his small body. In the child's hands was a stuffed lamb his mother had given him, that would sadly be lost with time.

Rick waved goodbye to his daughter and flew off into the stars.  
He knew he couldn't stay on Earth, it was just too risky.  
So as cruel as it sounded, when he switched dimensions he had to look for the perfect one.  
…And he did.

It was the middle of the night when he snuck in the house.  
This Rick had died on a errand in space a week prior, and the family had assumed he just hadn't come back yet.  
As for Morty, asleep in his crib…  
Well…  
Rick knew well enough that he couldn't find a timeline without Morty existing, and he couldn't find one where he still existed.  
The baby in the crib was completely still, having died in the night.  
Rick felt like he may throw up as he exchanged the dead baby for his Morty, gently tucking HIS grandson in the crib identical to his old one.

Rick would never admit it, but the sight of a dead Morty in his arms nearly drove him insane.

Under the light of the moon he lowered the baby into the grave he’d dug in the backyard, tears streaming down his face.  
The man trembled as he stared down into the hole, the baby wrapped in the blue blanket he'd had since birth, yellow stars all over it.  
He'd brought his Morty's blanket with him, so he took the dead child's blanket to wrap him up in.  
Feeling terrible didn't even begin to explain how he felt as he started to bury his own dead baby grandson in the back yard, but he managed.

Restless nights followed in suit, horrid pictures and visions of his dead baby grandson bleeding through any chances of a peaceful night.  
When he couldn't sleep he'd go and stare at the grave, whispering apologies as he sobbed.

“I'm sorry that the world isn't fair..”

After a while he had planted a small alien tree over the grave.  
It had a beautiful white base with purple and pink leaves, and when the moon shone on it just right it looked as if fireflies danced around on it, a yellow glow sparkling like glitter.

Jerry removed it, however, claiming it was a weed that didn't need to be there.  
Rick stopped visiting the grave after that.

When Morty was able to speak, he showed great interest in space.  
Hell, the kid flew around in it as a baby.  
Rick wasn't certain one way or another if he could still remember that, but it wouldn't surprise him.

When Morty learned to say his name it made his heart melt, and Jerry’s heart bitter towards the man, as he learned ‘Riri’ before ‘dada’.

Morty was about three when it happened, and what happened exactly Rick didn't know.

Beth and Jerry were out on a date while Rick was watching the kids.  
Morty was fast asleep in his bedroom, and Summer was playing with her toys downstairs.

It started with a loud crash when Rick went to check on Morty, and when he rushed downstairs Summer lay dead on the floor.

His heart sunk at the sight of his granddaughter, mangled on the floor.  
He recognized what did it instantly, and he rushed upstairs, knowing there was no time to waste.  
With those alien parasites in the house he knew they would go for everything on that damn planet that breathed, and it was far too late to figure out how they got there, and much too late to stop them.  
With a sleeping baby Morty clutched tightly in his arms, wrapped in his star blanket, he portaled out, bailing to the next reality.

When Morty was five he was accused of abusing the kid by Jerry after Morty fell and busted his head on the coffee table.

He took him in his sleep, and the kid didn't notice the switch of realities.  
Morty never did, though…

They had to switch again when Morty was seven, when Rick got a call that Beth had died in a car crash on her way home from work.

Morty didn't notice it then, either.

“Don't think about it..” Rick would tell himself, and that's exactly what he did.

With every world that fell apart around him he did his best to forget.  
He couldn't bring the dead back, and he certainly couldn't stop everything bad from happening.

When him and Morty switched worlds again, he knew that it messed with the boy's head. Why wouldn't it?  
He'd just left everything he'd ever known behind in a wasteland of mutants.  
“Don't think about it.” He told the kid, though he knew it didn't comfort him.

Morty became distant for a while, not wanting to be around anyone, but especially Rick.

When the older man stared out into the backyard, out at the graves.. he felt a sick wave of nostalgia wash over him.

Don't think about it.


	2. Goodnight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So sleepy...

Rick searched for that damned flower for months, but couldn't find it.  
Morty was growing meeker by the days, and he was practically bedridden.

The teen was pale and sickly, and Rick was right there by his side at all times.  
Though it broke his heart into a million pieces, he had to give up the search for that flower.   
He couldn't buy it, he couldn't steal it, and he sure as hell couldn't make it.  
But that meant Morty couldn't make it either.

The family visited Morty, though Rick was by his side 24/7.  
The sickness wasn't contagious, but him and Morty both saw the fear in their eyes when they were around him.   
It almost looked as if they were playing with a snake, and if they lingered too much it would bite them.

Morty slept most of the time, Rick sitting right next to him, running his hands through his hair.  
Though most Rick's wouldn't admit it, Morty's were their world…  
Most of them, anyway,

To this Rick though, Morty was his universe; his very reason for existing.  
He brought Morty his meals, bathed him, helped him to the bathroom, he was there for him no matter what.  
When the boy slept he'd run his hands through his hair, sobbing softly, apologizing to Morty, for taking him to that planet where he got this disease…  
To Beth, HIS Beth, for letting her down.

His heart ached seeing Morty toss and turn in his sleep, letting out groans of pain from the pain of his empty stomach, though the virus had been making him reject any food.

As terrible as he felt for thinking it, he had considered putting Morty down in his sleep painlessly, though he could never actually do it.

One night came when Morty woke up, his eyes foggy as he looked up at his grandpa.

“Rick..” he managed to croak out, his voice gentle yet shaky and raspy.  
Rick ran his hand through his hair and offered him a sad smile.  
“Y-yeah, Mort?”  
The older man was doing his best to fight back tears, though he was failing as they slipped down his face.

“I want .. you to … please, R-Rick.. Please kill me..”

Rick felt like he may vomit, but he shook his head ‘no’ as he watched tears roll down Morty's cheeks… his soft, pale cheeks.

“Rick..” he moaned out again, sobbing, even though it hurt.

Rick scooped the boy into his arms and sobbed, shaking his head as he held his cold body against his warm chest.  
“N-No, Morty.. don't make me do this, please…”

Morty weakly wrapped his arms around him as best as he could.  
“Please, Rick… it.. hurts..”

Rick stood, carrying the boy to his ship. He kept him in his lap as he flew out of the garage, and up Into space.

Morty's little eyes light up at the sight of the stars, and he gave a weak smile, his head resting against Rick’s chest. They flew for some time until Rick came to a stop, and clutched onto Morty a little tighter.

“What are you doing, R-Rick?”  
Morty asked, his body trembling against Rick's.

“You wanted me to let you go, r-r-right, Morty?”

The kid nodded weakly, and felt his weak heart sink when he felt Rick's tears dropping onto him.

“D-do you still want that?”

Morty nodded.

Rick sobbed as he typed in a code on the ship, and held onto him a little tighter.

“Grandpa’s coming with you…”

“Where?”

Rick didn't believe in heaven, but he knew Morty would be there.  
“You're going to heaven with your mom, o-okay, Morty?”

Morty went silent. His Beth wasn't his… he nodded weakly and pressed his head onto his chest a little firmer.

“A-and where are you going?”

“... I love you, Morty..”  
Rick kissed the top of his head and sobbed, as the ship began a silent countdown to detonation.  
It would be quick and painless.

“Rick…”

“Yeah, bud?”

“... I'll see you in heaven… right?”

“... Yeah, Morty.. I'll never leave you.. Rick and Morty a hundred years, r-r-remember?”

Morty let out a soft sob.  
“Rick and Morty forever.”

Rick sobbed and nodded, rubbing Morty's back gently.  
“Yeah, Morty… Forever..”

Morty closed his eyes and held him a little tighter.  
“Goodnight…”

Rick closed his eyes and hugged him for the last time.

“Sweet dreams, Morty…”

**Author's Note:**

> Depending on if I feel like it I may add a second chapter.  
> Let me know if you'd be interested in that.~


End file.
